Settlements with pharmaceutical
companies accused of wrongdoing will continue to fund a popular consumer
education program under an Oregon Department of Justice grant.

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum on Monday announced a three-year, $3.3 million grant to extend the Best Buy Drug Program operated by Consumers Union, a nonprofit better known by the name of its popular magazine, Consumer Reports.

Best Buy Drugs, which can be found online at www.CRBestBuyDrugs.org,
offers advice on cutting consumer drug costs, including effective
generics and how to avoid resorting to drugs in the first place.

The program was founded using funds
from a settlement with a Pfizer subsidiary over improper
marketing of Neurontin, a drug developed for epilepsy and also known as gabapentin.
In 2004, Oregon led the national, 50-state $430
million settlement, of which $21 million funded a consumer education program headed by
ODOJ.